Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance^[a] is a 2025 action platform game developed by Lizardcube and published by Sega. It was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a 2D action platformer. The player controls ninja Joe Musashi through various levels where the goal is to defeat the bosses at the end of them. Musashi is equipped with a sword and kunai but can also use magical powers called "Ninpo" to defeat his enemies. Enemies can be staggered and tagged, allowing Musashi to unleash "Shinobi Execution", killing all tagged enemies at once. Amulets can also be equipped, granting the player character additional combat bonuses.^[1][2] As a ninja, Musashi is very agile, being capable of performing feats such as double jumping, dashing through air, and dodge-rolling.^[3] As players progress, they will be able to spend gold, the in-game currency, to unlock new trasversal tools, combat moves and upgrades. Unlike prior entries, however, the game is based more around Metroidvania styled exploration to find secrets and side content.^[4] After each stage is completed, they can be replayed in Arcade mode, which challenges players to complete the stage as fast as possible.^[5]

An additional stage will be available as downloadable content on April 3, 2026. The stage will feature boss battles with villains from other Sega franchises, including Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, Death Adder from Golden Axe, and Goro Majima from Yakuza.^[6]

The world is under siege by a powerful paramilitary organization called ENE Corporation, consisting of high-tech and supernatural armies led by a man named Lord Ruse. The only force left that can oppose ENE's world domination ambition is the Oboro clan, a powerful clan of mystical shinobi that has been protecting mankind for centuries from catastrophic threats. The clan is currently led by the mute Joe Musashi alongside his pregnant wife and kunoichi (female ninja) Naoko.

Eventually, ENE attacks and decimates the clan's home of Oboro village and kills off the majority of Musashi's students with their armies of armed soldiers and ninjas. Journeying through the decimated village, Musashi discovers that most of his clansmen are petrified, and ENE has managed to gain domination over an army of Yokai to fill their ranks. Musashi confronts Ruse and his lieutenants, and Ruse orders a Warrior Ape Oni, Kozaru, the perpetrator behind the attack on the village, to finish him. Although Musashi kills Kozaru, he is left devastated by his village's destruction and his clan's demise, save for Naoko and his student Tomoe, and embarks on a quest for revenge against the ENE.

On his trusty spirit dog, Yamato, Musashi encounters a demon that chases him. Unable to pursue it himself, Musashi enlists Tomoe to gather intelligence about ENE Corp activities in the region. Musashi investigates ENE presence in a Lantern Festival and stumbles upon an ENE Arachno Tank weapon prototype, and destroys it. Later on, he travels to an ENE manufacturing facility in the mountainside and encounters Mandara, his old enemy, who is now turned into ENE's abomination warrior slave. Musashi slays Mandara to release him from his torment. The distraction allows Ruse to attack Musashi's home and kill both Tomoe and Yamato, leaving both of them petrified, with only Naoko having survived.

As Musashi mourns the death of his companion and protege, a Grim Reaper-like figure appears. He reveals himself to be an Ankou, a mortal man who is chosen to be the Grim Reaper to maintain the cycle of life and death. The position of Ankou changes each year, and a new mortal must replace the old one to be the new Grim Reaper. It turned out that Ruse was chosen to be the next Ankou, but he refused the duty in order not to leave behind his loved one, stealing the current Ankou's source of power: the Death Scythe. Using the Death Scythe, Ruse established ENE Corp and amassed an army of high-tech and supernatural forces to quickly overwhelm many nations in the world for total world domination. The Ankou warns that if Ruse keeps using the Death Scythe to continuously reap souls to empower himself, the balance of life and death will be toppled, leading to the destruction of the world. Musashi agrees to help the Ankou strip the Death Scythe from Ruse to stop him for good and return it to the Ankou to restore balance.

In the Neo-city, Musashi faces Kijima, a former mob enforcer who was forced to commit seppuku after failing to protect his boss. He is now resurrected by Ruse as an Oni to serve as his top enforcer. After a fierce fight, Musashi defeats Kijima. He then assaults a port where ENE is distributing weapons across the globe and discovers that ENE is experimenting with creating an army of bio-engineering monsters. Musashi slays the most powerful bio-abomination in the form of a giant octopus called the Octostar. His next lead is the ENE submarine base, where he faces kunoichi Chiyo, the head of the ENE combat division. After defeating her, he realizes that she was brainwashed by ENE, so he rips out the mind-control device implanted in her spine.

After regaining her mind, it is revealed that Chiyo used to be the leader of the resistance against ENE, but after her forces fell to Ruse and the ENE, she was subjected to brainwashing to serve as his lieutenant. Teaming up with Musashi and the Ankou, she directs Musashi to dismantle the major ENE base of operations to weaken them and buy time for her to rebuild the resistance. The first base is located in the desert where the Beastmaster, one of Ruse's top lieutenants with the power to control animal spirits, resides, and he is also responsible for decimating Chiyo's resistance force in the past. After a long chase and grueling fight, Musashi finally kills the Beastmaster, avenging the majority of Chiyo's men. Later on, both Musashi and Chiyo assault and destroy ENE Corp's major railway network to starve off ENE Corp's weapon logistics by destroying a supply train controlled by a Yokai spirit by crashing a jet fighter onto it. Finally, they assault the ENE Corp Laboratory responsible for creating bio-engineered monsters, in which he destroys genetic abominations like a monstrous pair of twins. Driven to untainted fury, Ruse sends Tenval, his mountain-sized Kaiju, to stomp the rising rebel forces. Nevertheless, Joe leaps inside its mouth and fights his way through the body to destroy the heart despite its saying his rage and bloodlust would not prevail over it.

Launching the final assault against Ruse's fortress, Musashi, Chiyo, and the Ankou lead the rebel army until Joe faces a resurrected Kijima. Defeating him again, the energy empowering him is drawn back to Ruse, leading Joe and the Ankou to chase him into Limbo; where souls await judgement. Joe encounters the spirits of Tomoe and Yamato, alongside all the rest of the Oboro Clan, who fight alongside him against Ruse's forces until Musashi reaches him. Planning to weaken him and have the Ankou steal the scythe, Joe prevails to Ruse's fury. As he struggles with the reaper over the Scythe, the aura of death he created drew it back to him, and he absorbed all the souls present in Limbo (including the Ankou and Oboro Clan) to become Death incarnate. Musashi pushes forward and defeats him, but cannot kill him alone. Tomoe persists, reminding Musashi that his thirst for vengeance against Ruse would only ensure the cycle of death continues forever. He taught her that the Oboro way was to seek and punish evildoers with justice, not vengeance, and being reminded of that purified Joe's anger. With the Oboro Clan's souls inside Ruse fighting alongside him, Joe cut down Ruse and destroyed him, setting things right in Limbo. The balance of life and death was fixed, and the mantle of the Grim Reaper was passed on. All the souls in Limbo entered reincarnation, and Chiyo's rebellion started repairing the world by stomping out the remains of ENE Corp. Naoko gave birth to Joe's son, and the family watched as the scars of Ruse's warpath began to fade.

Art of Vengeance was part of Sega's initiative to revive some of their dormant franchises. Sega approached Lizardcube, a studio based in Paris, and recruited them as its development partner, after being impressed by their work on Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (2017) and Streets of Rage 4 (2020), both of which were developed under its license. The publisher, however, took a more involved role in Art of Vengence's development, with the game's producer, Toru Ohara, leading a team to collaborate with Lizardcube and encouraging them to create a more striking art style than what was initially planned. The first three games in the franchise were cited by Lizardcube as their sources of inspiration, though they also attempted to modernize the franchise by refining the game's combat and introducing a combo system.^[7]

Art of Vengeance was first teased at The Game Awards on December 7, 2023.^[8][9] The game under its full title was not revealed until a trailer showcasing the gameplay was released on February 12, 2025.^[10] The game was released on August 29, 2025 for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.^[11]

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^{[12][13][14][15]}

The game was nominated for "Best Action Game" at The Game Awards 2025.^[27]

• Official website